1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to the preparation of amine oxides. More particularly, this invention involves the use of ascorbic acid as a catalyst for accelerating the oxidation of amines by reaction with hydrogen peroxide (H202) to form amine oxides.
2. Background
Oxidation of a tertiary amine such as didecylmethylamine by reaction with hydrogen peroxide to form a tert-amine oxide is known. This reaction is illustrated by the following equation. ##STR1##
An object of the present invention is to increase the oxidation reaction rate.
Another object of this invention is to provide a process that yields clarified tert-amine oxides.